Method and apparatus for generating at least one voted flight trajectory of a vehicle

ABSTRACT

A method for generating a voted trajectory of a vehicle in a first vehicle. First trajectory data is received from at least one second vehicle in a receiver in the first vehicle. Trajectory data is calculated in a trajectory calculator in the first vehicle. The calculated trajectory data and the received first trajectory data concern a determined vehicle. The determined vehicle is determined from a group including the first and the second vehicles. The voted trajectory of the determined vehicle by a voting process based on the calculated trajectory data and the received first trajectory data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to European patent application07118517.7 filed 15 Oct. 2007.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an apparatus and method for generating flightdata of vehicles. In particular, embodiments relate to a redundantmethod for generating trajectories for unmanned vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the field of transportation and aviation the usage of unmannedvehicles is increasing tremendously. When handling a group of unmannedvehicles, such as Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV), within a spacethe problem with coordination is a big issue. Some functionality tocoordinate the travelling routes, such as flight paths, for all unmannedvehicles needs to be present at all times.

There are some traditional ways to solve the coordinated flying ofUCAVs, for example, the required coordination functionality may belocated in either the ground control station (GCS), a manned vehicle orin a UCAV assigned as the leader. All these alternatives have however asingle point of coordination and lacks sufficient reliability in adynamic combat environment. All UCAVs are lost if the point ofcoordination is lost, either by communication failure or lost in battle.

Document U.S. Pat. No. 6,926,233 discloses a totally integrated systemfor automatic formation flight control of multiple vehicles. Course,speed, altitude, turbulence, and look ahead flight plan corrections arethen shared and sent to the respective autopilot and/or auto throttle toalter the course to prevent mid air collision. However, if acommunication failure occurs the vehicles will travel blind.

There is, thus, a need to provide a method that enhances the way ofgenerating the trajectories for vehicles in a group of vehicles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention address the above desire of providing a wayof determining trajectories.

An embodiment of the invention relates to an apparatus for a firstvehicle adapted to generate a voted trajectory of at least one vehiclewherein the apparatus is configured to receive trajectory data from atleast one second vehicle related to at least one determined vehicle, thedetermined vehicle being determined from a group comprising the firstand the second vehicles, retrieve a calculated trajectory fromcalculating trajectory means in the apparatus related to each determinedvehicle, and perform a voting process on the received trajectory dataand the calculated trajectory for each determined vehicle to generatethe voted trajectory of each determined vehicle.

In addition, the determined vehicle may be the first vehicle.

Furthermore, may the apparatus be arranged to receive local dataconcerning the first vehicle from sensors in the first vehicle and thelocal data may be used in the calculating means to calculate trajectoryof the first vehicle.

The determined vehicle may in an embodiment be at least one secondvehicle.

Additionally, the apparatus may be arranged to receive data concerningthe at least one second vehicle sent over the air and the data may beused in the calculating means to calculate trajectory of the at leastone second vehicle.

In an embodiment is the apparatus arranged to generate a votedtrajectory of the first vehicle as well as a voted trajectory of the atleast one second vehicle.

The apparatus may further be configured to monitor the at least onesecond vehicle based on the voted calculated trajectory of the at leastone second vehicle.

Furthermore, the apparatus may further be arranged to transmit thecalculated trajectory data to the at least one second vehicle.

In an embodiment may the voting process result in any kind of middlevalue trajectory or average value trajectory, weighted or not weighted,of the calculated and received trajectories.

The invention may further relate to a vehicle comprising an apparatusaccording to the above, receiving means for receiving data from the atleast one different vehicle, and transmitting means to transmit data toexternal sources.

An embodiment relates to a method for generating at least one votedtrajectory of a vehicle in a first vehicle comprising the steps of:receiving first trajectory data from at least one second vehicle inreceiver means of the first vehicle, calculating trajectory data incalculation trajectory means in the first vehicle, wherein thecalculated trajectory data and the received first trajectory dataconcerns a determined vehicle, the determined vehicle being determinedfrom a group comprising the first and the second vehicles, andgenerating the at least one voted trajectory of a vehicle by a votingprocess based on the calculated trajectory data and the received firsttrajectory data.

In an embodiment, the method may further comprise the step of: receivingdata, such as position data and the like, from sensors arranged at thefirst vehicle to be used to calculate trajectory data concerning thefirst vehicle.

In addition, the method may further comprise the step of: receivingdata, such as position data and the like, from the at least one secondvehicle to be used to calculate trajectory data concerning the at leastone second vehicle.

The method may further comprise the step of transmitting the calculatedtrajectory data to at least one second vehicle.

Additionally, the method may generate a voted trajectory for the firstvehicle and a voted trajectory for the second vehicle.

The method may, in an embodiment, further comprise the step oftransferring the at least one voted trajectory that concerns the atleast one second vehicle to a monitoring process, in order to comparepredicted and real position value of the at least one second vehicle.

Furthermore, the method may further comprise the step of transferringthe at least one voted trajectory to a control system of the firstvehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention, together with further objectives and advantages thereof,may best be understood by reference to the following description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic overview of calculated trajectories ofdifferent UAVs,

FIG. 2 shows a schematic overview of a plurality of UAVs,

FIG. 3 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for generating a plannedtrajectory,

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of an embodiment of a process undertaken by anunmanned vehicle,

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of a header of a data packet, and

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a packet containing data for a trajectorycalculation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The main principle driving the solution is to use a unanimousconsciousness, a functionality common for all unmanned vehicles. Thismeans, that all unmanned vehicles have all relevant information,including what the other group members are doing, planning to do andtheir environmental perception. There is a need to eliminate the singlepoint where all the coordination has been performed, this to get a goodrobustness and failure detection.

The solution for this need is to use a distributed system architecture,where all coordination functionality are implemented onboard everyvehicle. All functions are executed on each unmanned vehicle derivingcontrol orders for itself as well as the other unmanned vehicles in thegroup, based on common input information, which is being distributedbetween them. The decisions are then distributed and voted on to get aunanimous result.

All this adds to robustness, especially against failures. A group ofunmanned vehicles will be performing correctly, as long as one unmannedvehicle can calculate the coordinated trajectories and therefore is ableto control the vehicles of the group.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic overview of three unmanned aerial vehicles,UAV, going from point A to point B. A first UAV 10 has calculated afirst trajectory 11 for itself to fly to point B, it has also received asecond trajectory 12 from a second UAV 20 and a third trajectory 13 froma third UAV 30. A processor in the first UAV 10 then performs a votingprocess on the trajectories 11-13 to determine a voted trajectory 15 tofollow.

In a similar manner receives the second UAV 20 trajectories 21, 23 fromthe first UAV 10 and the third UAV 30. A voted trajectory 25 is thendetermined by performing a voting process on an own calculatedtrajectory 22 and the received trajectories 21, 23.

In a similar manner receives the third UAV 30 trajectories 31, 32 fromthe first UAV 10 and the second UAV 20. A voted trajectory 35 is thendetermined by performing a voting process on an own calculatedtrajectory 33 and the received trajectories 31, 32.

Furthermore, the first UAV 10 receives the calculated trajectories 22,32 from the second UAV 20 as well as the calculated trajectories 23 and33 from the third UAV 30. Hence, the processor in the first UAV hasaccess to all received trajectories 12, 22, 32, 13, 23, 33 and thetrajectories calculated internally 11, 21, 31. By performing a votingprocess, being the same in all UAVs, the first UAV will then know thevoted trajectory 25 of the second UAV 20 as well as the voted trajectory35 of the third UAV 30.

In other words, multiple solutions of trajectories are transferred toeach UAV in a group. By knowing the processing of the receivedtrajectories in each UAV as the data is processed in the same way, thedifferent UAVs will be able to determine the planned routes of each UAV.

It should be noted that the UAVs may calculate the trajectories in anyknown manner.

When a trajectory is sent over the air in a packet the trajectory may bepresented for example, by sending a number, such as five hundred, ofpoints indicating the trajectory, an equation with five values, or thelike.

In FIG. 2, a schematic overview of a group of UAVs is shown. The groupcomprises a first UAV 10, a second UAV 20 and a third UAV 30. In anembodiment the first UAV 10 comprises a transceiver unit 107, trajectorymeans 101, monitoring means 103, and voting means 105. It should beunderstood that the UAV may further comprise GPS equipment to determineposition, control system to control the UAV, energy source and so on.

The transceiver unit 107 is arranged to receive and transmit data, suchas trajectory data, position data of other vehicles and the like.

The trajectory means 101 is arranged to calculate trajectories of itselfbased on received and stored/measured data, such as GPS data,destination data and the like, and to calculate trajectories of othervehicles based on received data from the transceiver unit 107. Thesecalculations optimize the trajectories for all the vehicles at the sametime. Any Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS, or radio navigationmay be used to acquire position data.

Monitoring means 103 is configured to monitor other UAVs and predictpositions of the other UAVs.

The voting means 105 is arranged to determine a voted trajectory basedon received and calculated trajectories. The voted trajectory for theUAV itself is then transferred to be used in a control system tomanoeuvre the UAV and voted trajectories of the other UAVs aretransferred to the monitoring unit 103 to be used in a predictionprocess.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 the UAVs 10, 20, 30 are all in communicationwith each other, for example, the first UAV 10 is in bidirectionalcommunication with the second UAV 20. The second UAV 20 comprises,similarly to the first UAV 10, a transceiver unit 207 arranged toreceive and transmit data, trajectory means 201 for calculatingtrajectories of itself and/or others based on the received andstored/sensed data, monitoring means 203 arranged to monitor other UAVsand predict positions of the other UAVs, and voting means 205 arrangedto determine voted trajectories based on received and calculatedtrajectories. The voted trajectories are then transferred to and used ina control system of the UAV 20 and/or to the monitoring means 203.

In the same way is the first UAV 10 in communication with the third UAV30. The third UAV 30 comprises, as the other UAVs, a transceiver unit307 arranged to receive and transmit data, trajectory means 301 forcalculating trajectories of itself and/or others based on the receivedand stored/measured data, monitoring means 303 arranged to monitor otherUAVs and predict positions of the other UAVs, and voting means 305arranged to determine voted trajectories based on received andcalculated trajectories. The voted trajectories are then transferred toand used in a control system of the UAV 30 and/or to the monitoringmeans 303.

In the illustrated embodiment the second UAV 20 and the third UAV 30 arealso in communication with each other

It should be understood that the embodiment wherein monitoring of otherunmanned vehicles may be used in order to avoid collision when anevasive manoeuvre has to be performed.

As indicated by the dashed lines in the UAVs the process means, that is,calculation, monitoring, voting means may be performed in onemicroprocessor, however, the processes may be performed by separatedmicrocomputers, processors or the like.

As indicated by the arrows the processes run in a loop as described inmore detail below.

In an embodiment a solution formulation may be divided into three parts,

-   -   Rules and constraints definitions    -   Optimization    -   Distributing and voting

The first two parts calculates the trajectories for all unmannedvehicles in the group. The last part in this solution all individualcalculations are distributed within the group and then voted on to get aunanimous decision.

The trajectory may consist of, for example, speed, v, travel path angle,Y, and/or track angle, X. The track angle is defined as the aircraftsvelocity vector relative to north in the horizontal plane, magnetic ortrue. The travel path angle is defined as the angle between theaircrafts velocity vector and the horizontal plane. However, any way ofimplementing a trajectory may be used.

Rules and Constraints Definitions

The rules definition routine states a set of rules dependent on thecurrent flight plan, vehicle status and vehicle constraints. These rulesare then used as constraints in the optimization routine. The rules maybe defined, for example, as

${{{\left( {t_{t} - t} \right) - \frac{{dist}\left( {p,p_{t}} \right.}{v_{nam}}}} \leq T_{window}},$stating that the UAV (at position, p) must be on next waypoint, p_(t),within a given time window, T_(window), from time t_(t) when flying at anominal speed, v_(nom), and

$\frac{{p - p_{s}}}{d_{range}} \geq 1$stating that the minimum distance to a given Surface to Air Missile(SAM) site shall be at least the range of the SAM. In the equation p isUAV position, p_(s) is SAM position and d_(range) is the defined rangeof the SAM.Optimization

An optimization routine then calculates the optimal trajectory from thegiven rules and constraints, for example, the routine tries to find theoptimum flight paths that satisfies the constraints for all vehicles.The optimization algorithm may be, for example, any dynamic programmingalgorithm, such as a Model Predictive Control algorithm, or a BehaviourControl Lyapunov Function algorithm or the like.

Voting

The concept of the voting is to use unmanned vehicles as nodes in adistributed system that calculates and votes to simulate a unanimousconsciousness. One unmanned vehicle calculates the trajectory for itselfas well as for all other unmanned vehicles in the group. Then thetrajectories are communicated between the unmanned vehicles so that eachunmanned vehicle can vote between all calculations performed by thedifferent unmanned vehicles in its own voting logic. The voting isperformed on calculations of trajectory calculated in the unmannedvehicles and the calculations of trajectory calculated in other unmannedvehicles transferred to the unmanned vehicle. The voting process may beperformed in any known manner. In an example wherein the trajectoriesare defined as equations a median value voting process may be performedresulting in a median value or a weighted average value process may beperformed that results in a weighted average value of all coefficientsin the equation.

This embodiment that is a distributed outer loop control system offersgreat resistance for platform failures. The voting makes the system veryfailure safe with a lot of redundant information. If one unmannedvehicle loses its ability to calculate it still has several calculatedtrajectories from the others to perform a voting process on.

In FIG. 3 a schematic overview of a method to generate a votedtrajectory is shown.

In step 62, an unmanned vehicle receives data from a group of unmannedvehicles. Packets received may contain positioning data, destinationdata, vehicle performance data of a transmitting vehicle and the like.

In step 64, the unmanned vehicle calculates trajectories of eachunmanned vehicle in the group, including itself, using the data in thereceived packets and data concerning the vehicle itself from sensors,such as speed sensors, positioning sensors, and the like.

In step 66, the unmanned vehicle transmits the calculated trajectoriesover the air to the other unmanned vehicles using transceiver means.

In step 68, calculated trajectories are received from the other unmannedvehicles at the transceiver means of the vehicle.

In step 70, a voting process is performed on all the calculatedtrajectories of the vehicle, that is, the trajectory locally calculatedin a processor of the present unmanned vehicle and the calculatedtrajectories for the vehicle from other unmanned vehicles. The votingprocess results in a voted trajectory for the unmanned vehicle.

In step 72, the voted trajectory of the vehicle itself is transferred tothe control system of the vehicle.

Each unmanned vehicle may also perform voting processes for all otherunmanned vehicles, which means that each unmanned vehicle has access toa voted trajectory for each unmanned vehicle in the group. Thisinformation may be used to predict future positions of other unmannedvehicles, whereas each vehicle may have a dynamic model for the othervehicles in the group.

In FIG. 4 a schematic flow chart of a similar process for generatingtrajectories for vehicles is shown. However, in this embodiment thevehicle also monitors other vehicles in a group.

In step 82, an unmanned vehicle receives data from a group of unmannedvehicle. Packets received may contain positioning data, destinationdata, and vehicle performance data of the transmitting vehicle.

In step 84, the unmanned vehicle calculates trajectories of eachunmanned vehicle in the group, including itself, using the data in thereceived packets and data concerning the vehicle itself from sensors,such as speed sensors, positioning sensors, and the like.

In step 86, the unmanned vehicle transmits the calculated trajectoriesover the air to the other unmanned vehicles using transceiver means.

In step 88, calculated trajectories are received from the other unmannedvehicles at the transceiver means of the vehicle.

In step 90, a voting process is performed on all the calculatedtrajectories for each vehicle, that is, trajectories locally calculatedin a processor of the present unmanned vehicle and the calculatedtrajectories from other unmanned vehicles. The voting process results ina voted trajectory for every unmanned vehicle.

In step 92, the voted trajectory of the vehicle itself is transferred tothe control system and used to control the vehicle.

In step 94, the voted trajectory of the other vehicles are transferredto a monitoring process 96, wherein predicted positioning data aretransferred back to the calculation process and the process forms aniterative loop process. The predicted value is compared to a real valuethat is sent from the other vehicles to the vehicle and if thedifference is considered to large an error is considered to haveoccurred.

A prediction may reduce the transfer rate of vehicle status betweenunmanned vehicles, thereby saving bandwidth. In an embodiment theunmanned vehicles may as a group determine a failure diagnosis of oneunmanned vehicle, if the prediction and the real value received from theone unmanned vehicle deviates too much from each other, for example,more than 30 meters.

In an embodiment an unmanned vehicle that loses communication with theother in the group may still calculate its trajectory and predict wherethe other unmanned vehicles are. This will enable it to perform adequateuntil it regains contact with the group.

An aspect that needs to be considered is the fact that covertness may berequired during certain phases of the mission. The covertnessrequirement sets constraints on the communication between unmannedvehicles in a group. Since all unmanned vehicles within a group arerelatively close to each other the communication links has norequirement for long range. This may be used to decrease the possibilityof detection if the data link is constructed so that the maximum rangeis, for example, much smaller then the current flight altitude. Then theseparation of the travel path from the ground will help minimizing thedetection possibility.

In an embodiment wherein radio silence is decided and no datacommunication is possible certain constraints are set to the vehiclesensuring that the unmanned vehicles have non-conflicted space within thespace of the group. As an example, this may be done by

-   -   stating that one vehicle shall stay on the left side of the        waypoint route and another vehicle on the right side (in case of        two vehicle groups).    -   setting a requirement that no two unmanned vehicles shall be        between two same waypoints at the same time, done by a planner        that places a larger amount of waypoints in an area during        planning of a mission and thereafter decides on radio silence.

In an embodiment a combination of the two methods may be used.

There are two main things contributing to the bandwidth requirement, theamount of information communicated and the rate of communication. Thesemay be chosen in several different ways with different results.

The amount of data transferred between the unmanned vehicles may vary;some data is not needed as often as other. The position is a variablethat may be sent in a lower rate than, for example, flight pathparameters, such as track angle, flight path angle, and speed. Thealgorithm may also be as intelligent that it just sends information thathas changed since the last transfer.

In FIGS. 5 and 6 schematic overviews of message packets or parts ofpackets are shown. Each message transferred may contain a header 40,shown in FIG. 5, containing a sender ID 42, a timestamp 44, message ID46 and a checksum 48, and an encryption key, as shown in FIG. 6. Asshown in FIG. 6 an example of a packet transferred to a UAV containingdata to calculate a trajectory is shown, The packet may include aheader, encryption sections, and vehicle data such as track angle,speed, flight path angle, altitude, longitude, latitude. As an example,the amount of information that may be sent is header 56 bits, encryption128 bits, track angle 32 bits, speed 32 bits, flight path angle 32 bitsand position 3×32 bits. This sets the total bandwidth requirement of 365kbits/s in a group of 8 unmanned vehicles and with a communicationfrequency of 15 Hz.

The rate of communication may be affected by outer circumstances ascovertness and waypoint structure. If there is a requirement that theunmanned vehicles shall fly with as little communication as possiblethen the initial set rate of, for example, 15 Hz cannot be met. Also ifthe group flies on a very straight waypoint path then the need forupdating track angle and speed may decrease. This may be preplanned orbe decided in real time in the algorithm from the change in thevariables between each iteration.

It should be noted that in an embodiment a UAV that diverge a lot fromthe planned trajectory may send out a warning to the other UAVs and theother UAVs may perform evasive actions and then a new calculationprocess will be initiated.

In an embodiment a UAV is forced to take a certain trajectory in orderto avoid a threat or the like. The certain trajectory is determinedbased on the calculations of the trajectories of the other UAVs in orderto avoid collision. However, the certain trajectory is set and unknownfor the other UAVs so the other UAVs must perform a new voting processon the trajectories of the other UAVs taken the certain trajectory intoconsideration. Hence, new positioning data is sent as well as trajectorydata, such as a plurality of points or an equation.

The foregoing has described the principles, preferred embodiments andmodes of operation of the present invention. However, the inventionshould be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and not asbeing limited to the particular embodiments discussed above. It shouldtherefore be appreciated that variations may be made in thoseembodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the scopeof the present invention as defined by the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for a first vehicle adapted togenerate a voted trajectory of at least one vehicle, the apparatuscomprising: a receiver configured to receive vehicle data from at leastone second vehicle, the vehicle data concerning the at least one secondvehicle, the vehicle data comprising at least one of track angle, speed,flight path angle, altitude, longitude, and latitude, and to receivetrajectory data, the trajectory data comprising calculated trajectoriesof the first vehicle and the at least one second vehicle, the calculatedtrajectories being calculated at the at least one second vehicle; atrajectory calculator configured to calculate the trajectories of thefirst vehicle and the at least one second vehicle at the first vehicle,based on local vehicle data concerning the first vehicle and based onthe received vehicle data concerning the at least one second vehicle; avoting module configured to perform a voting process on the receivedtrajectory data calculated at the at least one second vehicle and thecalculated trajectory for the first vehicle and the at least one secondvehicle calculated at the first vehicle to generate voted trajectoriesof each of the first vehicle and the at least one second vehicle; and atransmitter configured to transmit the trajectories calculated at thefirst vehicle to the at least one second vehicle and to transmit thelocal data concerning the first vehicle to the at least one secondvehicle.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the trajectorycalculator is arranged to receive local data concerning the firstvehicle from sensors in the first vehicle, and wherein trajectorycalculator uses the local data to calculate the trajectory of the firstvehicle.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus isfurther configured to monitor the at least one second vehicle based onthe voted calculated trajectory of the at least one second vehicle. 4.The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the voting process resultsin a middle trajectory or average trajectory, weighted or not weighted,of the trajectories calculated at the first vehicle and calculatedtrajectories received from the at least one second vehicle.
 5. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculated trajectoriescomprise a plurality of points or an equation.
 6. A vehicle, comprising:a receiver configured to receive vehicle data from at least one othervehicle, the vehicle data concerning the at least one other vehicle, thevehicle data comprising at least one of track angle, speed, flight pathangle, altitude, longitude, and latitude, and to receive trajectorydata, the trajectory data comprising calculated trajectories of thevehicle and the at least one other vehicle, the calculated trajectoriesbeing calculated at the at least one other vehicle; an apparatuscomprising a trajectory calculator configured to calculate thetrajectories of the vehicle and the at least one other vehicle, based onlocal vehicle data concerning the vehicle and based on the receivedvehicle data concerning the at least one other vehicle, the apparatusfurther comprising a voting module configured to perform a votingprocess on the received trajectory data calculated at the at least oneother vehicle and the calculated trajectory for the vehicle and the atleast one other vehicle calculated at the vehicle to generate votedtrajectories of each of the vehicle and the at least one other vehicle,and a transmitter configured to transmit the trajectories calculated atthe first vehicle to the at least one other vehicle and to transmit thelocal data concerning the first vehicle to the at least one othervehicle.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the calculatedtrajectories comprise a plurality of points or an equation.
 8. A methodfor generating in a first vehicle voted trajectories of the firstvehicle and at least one second vehicle, the method comprising:receiving vehicle data from at least one second vehicle in a receiver ofthe first vehicle, the vehicle data concerning the at least one secondvehicle, the vehicle data comprising at least one of track angle, speed,flight path angle, altitude, longitude, and latitude, and receivingtrajectory data, the trajectory data comprising calculated trajectoriesof the first vehicle and the at least one second vehicle, the calculatedtrajectories being calculated at the at least one second vehiclecalculating the trajectories of the first vehicle and the at least onesecond vehicle, based on local vehicle data concerning the first vehicleand based on the received vehicle data concerning the at least onesecond vehicle, respectively; generating, via a processor, the votedtrajectories of each of the first vehicle and the at least one secondvehicle by a voting process based on the received trajectory datacalculated at the at least one second vehicle and the calculatedtrajectory for the first and the at least one second vehicle calculatedat the first vehicle; and transmitting the trajectories calculated atthe first vehicle to the at least one second vehicle and transmittingthe local data concerning the first vehicle to the at least one secondvehicle.
 9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:receiving data from sensors arranged at the first vehicle to be used tocalculate trajectory data concerning the first vehicle.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 8, further comprising: transferring the at least onevoted trajectory that concerns the at least one second vehicle to amonitoring process, in order to compare predicted and real positionvalue of the at least one second vehicle.
 11. The method according toclaim 8, further comprising: transferring the at least one votedtrajectory to a control system of the first vehicle.
 12. The methodaccording to claim 8, wherein the calculated trajectories comprise aplurality of points or an equation.
 13. A system, comprising: at leasttwo vehicles, wherein each vehicle comprises a receiver configured toreceive trajectory data related to an own vehicle and at least one othervehicle, and to receive vehicle data concerning the at least one othervehicle comprising at least one of track angle, speed, flight pathangle, altitude, longitude, and latitude, the trajectory data comprisingtrajectories of the own vehicle and the at least one other vehiclecalculated at the at least one other vehicle, a trajectory calculatorconfigured to calculate a trajectory of the own vehicle and at least oneother vehicle based on local vehicle data concerning the own vehicle andbased on the received vehicle data concerning the at least one othervehicle, a voting module configured to perform a voting process on thereceived trajectory data calculated at the at least one other vehicleand the calculated trajectory for the own vehicle and the at least oneother vehicle calculated at the own vehicle to generate votedtrajectories of each of the own vehicle and the at least one othervehicle a transmitter configured to transmit the trajectories calculatedat the own vehicle to the at least one other vehicle and to transmit thelocal vehicle data concerning the own vehicle to the at least one othervehicle.